Women's Full Results | Men's Full Results
STILLWATER, Okla. – The No. 16 Illinois women's cross country team finished in 21st place (521 points) at the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Monday afternoon. Jon Davis of the men's squad placed 39th, earning All-American honors. The races took place in Stillwater, Okla. at the Oklahoma State Cross Country Course to wrap up the 2020 season.
"Since returning to campus and learning of what would be asked of them balancing two seasons simultaneously," Head Coach Sarah Haveman commented, "our women and Jon accepted the challenge and worked together to continue to build upon their legacy."
The 21st place finish is the Illini's highest since 2009, when they placed 12th overall. Illinois improves one spot from last year's 22nd place finish in Terre Haute, Ind, while also improving by 28 placement points. The squad's 21st place finish is the seventh highest NCAA placement in the program's history.
The Illini were led by senior Rebecca Craddock who finished in 68th place and timed a 21:15.9 in the race.
Second to cross the finish line for Illinois was senior Allison McGrath. McGrath raced in 21:45.1 and placed 132nd overall.
Following McGrath was sophomore Olivia Howell. Howell, who won the Big Ten Indoor Track mile run event title on February 27th, finished today's race in 139th place in 21:46.1.
Fourth for the Illini was junior Ayah Aldadah. Her time of 21:48 earned her 143rd place in the championship race.
Rounding out the scorers for the Orange and Blue was junior Emma Milburn. Milburn completed the race in 22:07.8 which placed her 175th overall.
Davis was the mens squad's sole runner at the NCAA Championships after qualifying as an individual. He earned All-American honors with his 39th place finish in 30:46.3, the first All-American honor for an Illinois male cross country runner since Dylan Lafond in 2015.
"Jon's All-American honor is a testament to how hard he has fought to perform well for his team both on the track and the course this year despite many challenges along the way," Haveman added about her runner. "This will be a great stepping stone for him."
At the 3k mark, Davis found himself in 71st place, but as each additional kilometer went by he improved his overall position. Eventually reaching 39th place, Davis found himself inside the All-American criteria threshold of top-40 runners in the race.
"Because of the exceptional student-athletes on this team and staff who work tirelessly to support them, we will come out of this unprecedented time with tremendous accomplishments on the track and on the cross country course in a matter of weeks," Coach Haveman concluded.
Women's Team Scores
Place Team Points
1 BYU 96
2 NC State 161
3 Stanford 207
4 Michigan State 212
5 Minnesota 239
6 New Mexico 274
7 Colorado 279
8 Alabama 280
9 Boise State 304
10 Arkansas 316
11 Northern Arizona 318
12 Ole Miss 325
13 Washington 330
14 North Carolina 354
15 Florida State 363
16 Oregon State 375
17 Michigan 400
18 Georgetown 494
19 Indiana 494
20 Georgia Tech 508
21 Illinois 521
22 Portland 522
23 Colorado St. 532
24 Oklahoma State 535
25 Iowa State 580
26 Liberty 611
27 Duke 625
28 Tulsa 650
29 West Virginia 668
30 San Francisco 688
31 Furman 761
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